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Search under way for parents of mystery four year-old girl

DNA tests confirmed the mystery four-year-old is not related to the couple housing her. Photo: The Smile of the Child

A global appeal has been launched to help identify a mystery four-year-old girl who was found with a Roma couple in Greece after allegedly being snatched from her parents.

The girl was found near Farsala in central Greece during a crackdown on illegal activities by Roma Gypsies.

The blonde-haried, fair-skinned child stood out, and bore no resemblance to the couple who have since been proved to be unrelated after DNA analysis.

The couple - a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman - are accused of falsifying identity and family certificates. The woman has claimed to have given birth to six children within a space of less than 10 months.

A poster has been circulated by the charity in Greece in a bid to find the mystery girl's identity.

Conflicting accounts were offered on how the girl came into the couple's care, ranging from being found in a blanket, that she was handed to them by strangers or that she had a foreign father.

Officers found three other minors living with the couple who appeared to be their children but this has yet to be confirmed by DNA testing.

Police said they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in the settlement, which is near Farsala, 170 miles north of Athens.

The girl is now being cared for by the charity A Child's Smile, which is seeking the help of European and global groups for lost or abused children to track her parents.

Greek reports said the police are revisiting kidnap cases dating back to 2009 to help discover the girl's natural parents.